Nando de Freitas

Nando de Freitas is a researcher in the field of machine learning, and in particular in the subfields of neural networks, Bayesian inference and Bayesian optimization, and deep learning.

De Freitas was born in Zimbabwe. He did his undergraduate studies and MSc at the University of the Witwatersrand, and his PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge. From 2001, he was a Professor at the University of British Columbia, before joining the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford from 2013 to 2017. He now works for Google's DeepMind.

De Freitas has been recognised for his contributions to machine learning through the following awards:

• Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Machine Learning (2016)
• Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Learning Representations (2016)
• Google Faculty Research Award (2014)
• Distinguished Paper Award at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (2013)
• Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence in Research (2012)
• Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems Young Researcher Award (2010)